So What....

So What….

if we went to the fair in the rain. It was still awesome

if I wear fake glasses

if I ate two lunches the other day. I wanted to have lunch with my husband that bad

if I got so busy that I forgot to shower today

if I am still kinda afraid of the dark

if I sometimes skip out on brushing my teeth in morning

Lets Be Real

Today has been full of emotions and its not even noon. I have been wrestling with my desire for a baby.

 I don’t understand. I am so confused. I hurt. I watch all of these women getting pregnant and I am still waiting. 

I feel robbed and the closer we get to what should have been our due date the more I am reminded of what was lost. 

Today has been a Monday of tears and sadness... a good ole fashioned pity party. I am trying to have joy but sometimes lets just be real, its hard. 

I know that it is God’s will for us to be parents. I know I have to be patient but patience is a weak area of mine.

 I can say that through this I am learning more and more about how to be patient. I will remain in faith even though sometimes I just want to give up and pretend like I don’t care anymore.I can’t do that because that would be a lie.

 We have been trying for a little over a year now. I never in my wildest dreams thought that it would take this long to get pregnant.

 I also never thought that during that time I would have the joy of getting pregnant just to lose the baby. Through the tears and the hurt I will lean on my Savior.  

Today I am going to meditate on the fact that the joy of the Lord is my strength. I will see the victory.

God is good, He is faithful, He loves, and He gives good gifts...

Children are a gift from God!!! I look forward to the day I receive the gift of a child from my  Heavenly Father!!! 

Do You Think I Am Beautiful

Inside every woman is the question

Am I beautiful??? 

Am I loved???

Am I noticed??

We as women want to hear yes to these and many other questions.

God says yes

He says I am enthralled by your beauty

He says you are a pearl

He says I have loved you with an everlasting love

He says you are so loved that I gave my very best... my Son

He says I watch over you... I never take my eyes off of you.

I will never forget while in college a friend of mine gave me a book called “Do You Think I’m Beautiful.” It was one incredible book!!! I realized that all the while I was looking for a guy to love me, to romance me, to sweep me off my feet, to make me feel beautiful that God was always doing all of that. I just wasn’t seeing it because I was too busy looking to boys for the answer. I wasn’t taking Him by the hand and receiving all of these things.  It changed my relationship with God. You see its a relationship not a religion. God is crazy about you. He wants to be numero uno in your life. He wants to speak to these desires within you and tell yes to all of those questions you struggle with. He wants to see you confident not just in your outer beauty and how guys make you feel ,  but in who He has created you to be. The real you can only be found in Him and all those answers can only be satisfied through him. A dude may be able to answer for a season but eventually you will find yourself still struggling with the same questions. Run to God He will show you through his word who you really and will satisfy all of those questions. 

This Wednesday I am saying so what....

So what if....

I broke the garage door and we have to call a garage door man....it happens

people think I share too much on MY blog. If you don’t like it don’t read it. 

my house looks like a tornado just came through it. We have been busy besides I am going to clean it tomorrow

I buy my dog a new toy every time I go to any store that has dog toys

I am super excited about seeing Disney on Ice for the third year in a row

I enjoy watching the disney channel. I guess I am still young at heart ;)

I had to get on to my cross country team and it hurt my feelings 

I traded in my membership at cross fit for a maid to come clean the house twice a month. Yes, I did this but I will be starting back at cross fit in the next few weeks. I will be keeping the maid 

Weekend Recap

1. Took the cross country team to my high schools homecoming football game
2. Had a cross country meet Saturday morning 
3. Went to the lake and rode jet skis with my brother and sister. We froze are little rear ends off
4. Went to the Luke Bryan concert
5. Went back to the lake for more family fun
6. Camilla puked all over me because she decided to eat a container full of live fishing bait. I thought I was going to be sick
7. Watched a boat following Geary way too close as he drove the jet ski back to the dock. My family joked about it being the lake police. Only to find out as they got closer that it was indeed the lake police. Apparently the jet skis weren’t registered. Geary received a warning and we all laughed about it.
8. Rode the jet ski with Geary. It wasn’t as cold because he blocked the wind for me. 

How to throw a smashing birthday party

Geary's birthday was this past Wednesday. I thought I would share with you what all we did to celebrate the big day. So if you too want to throw a smashing party just follow these quick and easy steps.

Step 1: Drive all over town looking for a candy gift basket. That you discover can only be found at the hospital gift shop.

Step 2: Take your significant other to a yummy restaurant for lunch

( The rest of the steps will come with photos)

Step 3: Party hats. Make sure that you have them not just for the birthday boy. Please make sure to have hats for your guest as well.

Step 4: Don't just hand the birthday boy his gift. Make it more fun by having a scavenger hunt. Its just so much more fun to have the anticipation build as you get closer and closer to discovering your birthday gift.

Step 5: If you really want to wow him make sure to only give him half of his gift. i.e. give him the paddle to his canoe and say by the way the canoe will be here by the end of October

Step 6: A dinner with all his favs. Meatloaf, sweet potatoes, carrots, mac and cheese (okay this ones my fav)

Step 7: No birthday is complete without cake.  The cake must come with candles. You must match the number of candles with his age. i.e. G is 31 so I put 31 candles on the cake. Oh and make sure its the really cheap ones. That way when you go to light them you can only light like 4 out of the 31. If you really want to make this fun make sure you accidentaly buy the trick candles. You know the ones were no matter how hard you blow they just don't go out. So you have to resort to spitting all over your cake.

Step 8: Make sure that your camera is on the wrong setting. That way you can be sure to take a bunch of crappy photos like all the ones you just looked through.

That my friends is how you throw one awesome party.

So What Wednesday

This week I am saying SO WHAT!!!

So what if.....

1. Geary’s birthday is today and because of a miscommunication his gift will not be here until October 28th. 
2. I have an attic full of junk that is just waiting to be turned into a treasure
3. Geary is looking at buying a boat that looks like it came straight from the dump back in the 70’s. Hey, a boat’s a boat so we can still have fun on the lake, right???
4. I accidentally left the scoreboard box out in the rain, and now it may or may not work!!! Mistakes happen people so get over it.
5. I still don’t have the abs that I have been wanting since high school. These things take time, haha :)
6. Geary caught me sneaking certain vegetables in his food last night. Hey, I am just trying to take care of him. Lesson learned chop them smaller!!!

Consumed

So lately I have been consumed and I wish I could say it was with God and my family but no. No, No instead I have been consumed with getting pregnant. You know where you cry every time your period comes, where you count on a calendar multiple times a day to see if you have missed your period YET!! You google pregnancy symptoms because you just know this is the month.  Its all I could talk about and even think about. 

Well, I guess in being so consumed with this I was dropping the ball on everything else. So its been hard but the last week I have been transitioning my focus from disappointment to gratitude. What do I mean by this??? I mean I am being more thankful for my relationship with God and for Geary. I am focusing on those two areas the most right now. God and Geary deserve all of me not a just a small piece. I was so consumed with getting pregnant that I never could offer my very best. I trust God and I am standing on his word in regards to having a baby so why should I worry and fret. No, instead I will praise Him and trust Him for He is good and He takes care of me simply because He LOVES me. Now for G-man, I am focusing on how can I take care of him... how can I serve him. I love him and he is always giving me his very best and I want to do the same. 

I want to look back on this time and see it as a time of growth and not as a time of defeat. I want my marriage and my relationship with God to flourish during this season of waiting and trusting. 

I forgot to tell you all about my exciting weekend!!! So here we go.....

I went to visit my lil sis, who has just started her 1st year in college. Woohoo!!! It was ahh-mazing!!! She goes to my old college. Can I get a HOOTIE HOO!!! We went to Echo, which is an awesome college ministry at North Metro in Kennesaw. Soo cute because North Metro is where I went to church for a majority of my time in college. She really is following in my footsteps... a tear. 

You know your in college when.... you go to college night at Stevie B’s and it does not start until 10 pm and you stay until 12 am. While you are there you eat three plates worth of pizza and you play all sorts of games. Yes I totally participated.

We went shopping, I got a makeover, and we ate tons of yummy food.

Sorry no photos!!! Boo!!!

Next I spent the rest of the weekend with Geary’s parents and the rest of the family. 

We had fun and I will tell you what we did through photos.

                                                      Rode Marta... Me and G-Money

Braves vs. Mets (apparently I missed the silly photo memo. Either that or he missed the lets look pretty for this photo memo)

not so much sure whats going on here

The games were awesome. We went to the game Friday night and Saturday afternoon. The rest of the trip was filled with eating and having fun together. 

So you might be me if.......................

1.   You unload all of your crap out of the car. Go inside the hotel and ride the elevator to what you hope is the right floor. You find out when you get to that floor that not only are you not on the right floor but you are not even in the right hotel. So you carry all of your crap back to your car to just drive a block down the road to the correct hotel.

2.During the above chaos you leave your jacket at the wrong hotel and have to go back to that hotel and  retrace your steps to find it. We found it!!

3. Your husband purchases to round trip Marta tickets and you loose yours halfway through the trip and have to pay for your last bus ride to the game. Oh and during the game you find it safely tucked in your camera case.   

4. You go to sports bar to watch the FSU and your whole family is  loudly toasting to your getting pregnant. Then they loudly proceed to give advice on how to get pregnant: Brother In Law says... you just gotta relax, Mother In Law says.... afterwards you just need to lay in bed for a little while... thats how I did it. Man I love them!!! So here's to taking their advice and getting pregnant in the near future!!! HaHa

                         

                                                  

  So What If......

1. I have a gained a few pounds. Geez can’t a girl get a break!!! 
2. I have worn workout clothes everyday this week but I haven’t worked out once
3. The body of our jeep is black but the hood is blue. It is still fun to ride
4. I thought I was all healthy for drinking Naked Juice but later found out its actually quite bad for you.... hello lots of sugar
5. I like to wear glasses that I don’t need because I like the way I look in them
6. I sleep with every light in the house on when Geary is gone. 
7. I carry white cheddar popcorn seasoning every where I go. I mean you never know when that might come in handy
8. I left my 4th of July wreath hanging on my door until ummm today. 

Did I Shave My Legs For This

 I have noticed that I plan the shaving of my legs around what I am wearing, for example if its a jean kinda day then I am all like score no shaving today. It gets really bad in the winter. I am talking manly legs. Well, I noticed that the hairier my legs are the less sexy I feel around the hubs. I mean lets be honest if there is no shaving then that coincides with no lotion and that = some ashy/nasty legs. I have decided to be a little less lazy this winter and take that extra 3 minutes to keep my legs sexy smooth not just for me but for the hubs too. He has never complained but still it can't be that attractive. So here is to smooth legs and feeling sexier for the hubs. Thats right sexy and thats okay to want to feel sexy for my husband. 

Oh in doing this post I kept thinking about the song by Deana Carter: Did I Shave My Legs For This

                 So for your listening and viewing pleasure Deana Carter, Did I Shave My Legs For This 

Lovey Dovey: The fashion Guru

Sooo a few months ago lovey dovey (yes that’s what I call the hubs… cheesy, I know) started hinting around that the makeup I have been wearing for ohhh 6 years now just might not be working for me. I brushed it off.I also  informed him that I had gotten a makeover 6 years ago and this is what she said looked good on me.

I then in that moment remembered my niece one day asking "what happened to your eyes??"  I responded with "its makeup." Nothing like your 4 year old niece causing you to be slightly insecure about your makeup.  She then says "well I don’t like it. " Haha wisdom of a  4 year old. I brushed it off and was like she’s 4 what does she know.

Well last week lovey dovey says… and I quote “ how would you like it if I gave you a gift certificate to go get a makeover and new makeup.” I was all like what do you know you are just a boy. Soo I ever so kindly declined ( can you say offended much).

I few things you should know … Geary is NOT metro!! He is a country man!!! Seriously he hunts, fishes, goes mud bogging,…  he does not read fashion magazines or watches what not to wear. I guess he just has an eye for what works and what doesn’t. He evens helps me figure out whether or not an outfit works or not. Oh and he helps decorate the house. I guess he is a well rounded dude. HaHa

So this weekend I went to see my sister, who is a makeup genius.

Drum Roll Please………………………………………………….. I let her give me a makeover at Sephora.

She is the bomb my makeup has never looked soo good… (confident much) but I am serious.  I no longer look like that girl that wears way to much eye makeup. It looks more natural and works perfect with my skin tone.

My sister even taught me how to properly apply makeup, how sad that I am 27 years old and just now learning this technique. 

It must look good because even my father in law commented on how he liked my makeup.

Ohh and lovey dovey really likes the new look ;)

I will post before and after photos tonight!!!

Picture credit is given to publix website

1.      When I need some help finding an item there is always somebody ready to help. They even go the extra mile by taking me to the exact location of where my item is located

2.     They always let me sample the meat and cheese as I wait for my meat order to be sliced

3.     I can get a fountain coke while I shop (love it)

4.     The manager is always walking around the store greeting and helping customers. He even went so far as to thank my friend and I for being such diligent coupon gals.

5.     It’s clean…. Need I say more

6.     Friendly, Friendly , Friendly

7.      Great deals especially if you coupon

8.     A coloring book with crayons along with a balloon and a cookie for all kids… amazing

9.     They unload your buggy for you

10. They allow you to make requests like… please put all refrigerated items in paper and the rest in plastic. They even act like your request is perfectly normal and they are happy to do it for you.

11.  They celebrate with you when you rock it out with some coupons.

12. They insist upon taking your groceries to the car because they really do want to be helpful

13. There sandwiches are AH-MAZING

You might be a residents wife if.......

1. A random woman answers his phone and you are not concerned. ( Now ladies put your claws back in because if a woman answers the phone it means G is in the middle of a surgery)

2. Your idea of a romantic date is taking dinner to your husband at the hospital. 

3. You can get any box in the attic.... regardless of whether or not it is larger than you and weighs more than you. This is because you have figured out how to push it up those stairs using your head.... ALONE

4. Stories of rectal foreign bodies don’t shock you anymore.

5. If you know how to get blood out of scrubs

6. You wait for your spouse to call and say he is coming home before starting dinner because you just never know what time he might come home

7. You get asked like a billion times.... so is residency like Grey’s Anatomy?

8. You have grown okay with your husband looking at naked women

9. You keep right on eating your dinner no matter how disgusting or gruesome your spouses work stories are.... it just doesn’t get to you anymore

 10. Your husbands falls asleep at church, in the middle of a conversation, during every movie, while you have tons of company over at your house.... you get the picture they fall asleep during everything. 

The newest Addition

      Meet the newest family member!!!!!

Princess Camilla of Kinchafoonee

A.K.A Camilla

Geary surprised me with her for my birthday!!!! I thought I was getting pots and pans. So needless to say when he told me what I was really getting I did a dance. She is so sweet (most of the time) and too funny (all the time). We are currently in the process of house training and just when I think she’s got it she goes and pees like ten times in the house. Darn!!! We will get there soon. 

Miscarriage Part 3

During the time we spent grieving I really thought I would never be okay. The pain was so intense as well as the emptiness.  Well, I was wrong because today I can honestly say that I am okay and better than that I am great. My relationship with the Lord is flourishing and I cling to the promises that I have found in his word regarding children. Children are a blessing from God and hey God is in the blessing business and He is certainly no respecter of persons. So if He can bless one person with a child well then guess what I know He will do the same for me. So here I stand in faith waiting and believing that one day Geary and I will one day have a healthy baby. God is so good. He has healed me and loved on me this whole time. He is my rock and my strength so I choose to lean on Him. 

Do I sometimes still get sad??? You betcha!!! In fact I cried the other day because it was around the time that we would have been finding out the sex of our baby. God was there with me as I sat in the quietness of my car and wept. He loved on me and comforted me. I think I will always miss that baby and thats okay because regardless of what others may think that baby was a life and every life is precious no matter how long or short their life was. 

One thing that really helped us was we named that sweet baby. The baby’s name is Lael ,which means belonging to God. Lael is with God and will be with Him for eternity and one day we will meet that sweet baby. 

I refuse to live in shame and act like the miscarriage never happened because guess what..... it happened.I have finally excepted the truth that it was not my fault. I will not act as though Lael never existed. I will tell all of our future kids about their brother/sister who is in heaven. I will not be defeated but instead I will bring glory to my Heavenly Father as I use my testimony to help others. 

Miscarriage: Part 2

I had Geary call and tell my parents while I was waiting to go back for the procedure. I just couldn’t tell them. I knew it would crush my dad and step mom. They were so excited to be grandparents. We probably should have told them the day we found out but I couldn’t so we waited until there was no chance that the doctors had been wrong and that there was no miracle. We held out for a miracle until the very end. It was so weird to be in the same recovery room as the women who had just had a c-section. It was like rubbing salt into the wound. I would sit there and watch lady after lady come in and awake to hear that there baby was healthy.... all I can say about that is aghhhh!!! 

We then went home and grieved. My parents came up the day after the procedure and stayed with us the whole day. It was so nice to have them there because at that point I wasn’t ready to deal with the emotions I just wanted to avoid them. They left and we grieved. I cried all the time!!! I also dealt with a ton of emotions. 

I felt ashamed as if I had somehow failed. I felt that I had failed in the one area that has always been my greatest desire~ becoming a mother. I felt like I had failed everyone especially Geary. I was so ashamed!! I didn’t want to face anyone or talk to anybody. I was angry!! I was hurt!!! I was sad!! I racked my brain to figure out what I had done wrong even though everyone had told me its not your fault. I wanted an explanation other than these things happen and its actually a miracle that anyone carries a baby to full term. I wanted an explanation that I could fix or at least try to fix. I wanted to stay in my house forever and never come out. I wanted to rewind time and start over. I didn’t want to face all of my pregnant friends. I just wanted my baby to be back safely in my womb. 

I had a choice I could praise God during the storm or I could succumb to the depression that was beginning to take over. Sometimes it just felt easier to give into the depression but where is the testimony in that so I chose to  praise Him ( most of the time) :) . 

I for awhile had decided I never wanted to get pregnant again. I just felt that I couldn’t handle this kind of pain and disappointment again. I think this lasted for a good month and then my heart softened again to the deepest desire of my heart ~ MOTHERHOOD!!! I know that one day I will be Mom !!!

For children are a gift from God

Psalm 127:3

Miscarriage: Part 1

I write this in hopes that it will help anyone who ever goes through a miscarriage. I remember right after we lost our baby I scoured blogs looking for anyone who had gone through what I was currently going through. I just wanted to know that what I was feeling wasn’t crazy or ridiculous because it sure felt like it to me. I wanted to know that I wasn't alone because in that moment I have never felt more alone in my life.

Here is our story:

We were finally pregnant and boy was I excited!!!! I remember our first appointment so clearly. I remember our doctor saying see that little flickr thats your baby and thats the heartbeat. I was so thrilled and Geary and I both agreed that we would call the baby flickr until we knew the sex. 

I remember talking to the baby and loving that little flickr with all of my heart. Everything centered around what was best for that little flickr from what I ate and drank to what I did. I was willing to give up anything so that baby would be healthy. For goodness sakes I gave up all soda which if you know me was a BIG deal. 

Geary and I anticipated our next appointment with great excitement because this was the day we would HEAR the baby’s heartbeat. I was over the moon excited when we finally got to go back. I jumped on the table and Geary was right by my side... boy were we ready.

We never heard the baby’s heartbeat that day. 

I remember this time that finding the flickr aka the heartbeat was taking longer than it did the last time and the doctor wasn’t saying anything and then all of a sudden Geary left my side and went and sat down. ( He is a doctor and he knew something was wrong before the doctor could ever tell me... he was about to pass out so he needed to sit before that happened.) I started whispering whats wrong and the Doctor said I can’t seem to find the heartbeat and the next thing I know the nurse is handing me a tissue and Geary is back at my side. They are saying things like lets try a different ultrasound .... needless to say no heartbeat was ever found and in that my moment all the excitement of this new life growing inside of me, all of my hopes and dreams for our future with that child came crashing down around me. 

We came home and we decided Geary would go back to work and I would stay home. I remember sitting outside holding my cat and balling. I was devastated and i just wanted to wake up from the dream only it wasn’t a dream it was our reality. Geary ended up staying home and we prayed and prayed and prayed. We then moved from prayer to praise because our situation was bad but God He was still good. God is the giver of life and the enemy (satan) steals, kills, and destroys. 

The next day I started bleeding and cramping so it was decided that I would have a D and C because the doctor felt this miscarriage was going to be very painful. Right before the procedure I began the process of the miscarriage and the doctor was right about the pain. Never in my life have I felt cramps like that. I am so thankful that I was able to have the D and C instead of enduring that kind of pain for a few hours.  I left the hospital empty knowing that I would never hold that baby that I already loved so much. I also left knowing that our baby was adopted into the family of God and that flickr was heaven and God our father was taking care of he/she. 

Dinner With The Bush's

 Welcome to Dinner With The Bush's!!!! I just tried out a new dish that I found from a magazine called Clean Eating. This magazine is awesome so you should go check it out. I am always going to their website to get new recipes!!! I love the recipes they offer because they are healthy, easy, and super yummy. So here is the first edition of Dinner With The Bush's. I hope you find it helpful especially if you were in a cooking rut like I was.
  You should most definitely make this dish. I am telling you it was so good and very easy to make. I will be making it again sometime in the future. Thanks Clean Eating for all of your fabulous recipes.
   One thing I did differently was I used a ribeye instead of a sirloin. I mostly did this because Fresh Market didn't have sirloin but they did have ribeye so I improvised.

                              Sirloin Peppery Tomato Reduction With Squash Onion

                                                                       Stir- Fry

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tsp chile powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp sea salt, divided
• 1 lb boneless sirloin steak, about 3/4-inch thick, trimmed of visible fat
• 2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 medium zucchini, cut into eighths lengthwise, then cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 medium yellow squash, cut into eighths lengthwise, then cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, quartered and layers separated

SAUCE

• 1/2 cup diced tomato
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a small bowl, combine chile powder, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper and 1/4 tsp salt. Sprinkle evenly over both sides of steak and press lightly to adhere. Let stand for 10 minutes.
2. Heat 1 tsp oil in a large nonstick skillet on medium-high, tilting skillet to coat bottom lightly. Add zucchini, squash and onion and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until just tender-crisp, stirring frequently. Sprinkle mixture with remaining 1/4 tsp salt and place in a medium bowl; cover to keep warm.
3. Heat 1 tsp oil in same skillet on medium-high, tilting skillet to coat bottom lightly. Cook steak for 4 minutes per side or to desired doneness.
4. Meanwhile, prepare sauce: In a small bowl, combine all sauce ingredients, except 2 tsp oil.
5. Remove skillet from heat and place steak on a cutting board. Return skillet to medium-high heat. Add sauce mixture to pan residue. Bring to a boil and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until reduced to 1/4 cup liquid, stirring frequently. Remove from heat, stir in 2 tsp oil and serve over steak, with squash-onion stir-fry alongside.

                          

Have you ever just been in a cooking rut? Well I was there a couple of weeks ago. I was sooo tired of the meatloaf, enchiladas, bbq chicken, chicken and dumplings, steak, chicken pot pie, .... yeah this is most of my cooking rotation. So I decided it was time for a change either that or we would continue down the path of I am tired of cooking so what restaurant do you want take out from. Yep thats where we were but not anymore!!! So here is to trying new recipes and the development  of Dinner With The Bush's... my first edition will be later tonight ( if we like the new recipe).

Well folks we are back from the annual Bush beach trip!!! Boy do I LOVE hanging with G's family. They are wonderful people. I am one blessed lady to be able to call them family. I will show you what we did through photos!!!

                          The big crab hunt... I think we caught like 20 crabs. Crazy, I know!!

My adorable nieces.. Already best buds

 We through one rockin fiesta for this lovely birthday gal. 

My first deep sea fishing trip. No, I did not get sick. Yes reeling in the fish was very difficult. Yes all the men on the boat picked on me for my lack of skill in reeling in a fish. Yes, I did catch this gigantic beauty. No, I did not want to hold it for this picture (it was really slimy) but once again I caved to peer pressure :)

This is one guy who really hates the sun. So this is how he rolls at the beach.... 75 spf suncreen, hat, t-shirt at all times, and he must be in the shade at least 99.9 % of his time on the beach.  Love him

Here is the 1% of his time spent in the sun. 

What is this you ask??? Why it was our ride to dinner at the firefly in PCB. The men were so romantic and surprised us with this little ride. 

This is the firefly where we had dinner while at the beach. The food was fantabulous and the atmosphere was the coolest. 

Here we are by the tree that was in the center of the restaurant. I love the detail.... its made of cement, lights hang in the tree, and little yellow lights flicker (they were the fireflies).

And yes we are both wearing white pants... can you say matchy matchy!!! Thats how we roll!!! 

How my opinion of tanning has evolved

As a kid I used to go to the pool, beach, or lake just to have fun. I would find myself watching people "sunbathe" and all I could think about was how boring that must be. I even went so far as to say I would never enjoy just laying there to get a tan.

As a teenager/ early 20's I would go to those same places and I all I cared about was getting really tan. As all teens know you can only get tan if you don't use sunscreen... Ha more like all you get is a really good burn that peels in about a week. 

As a woman in my late  20's I go to those same places and all I can think about is how I need to keep applying sunscreen to avoid wrinkles and skin cancer.  Now don't get my wrong I wanted a tan but the who needs sunscreen attitude was out the window.

Diet Coke...my 2nd fav behind the original Coca Cola from a fountain of carbonated bliss!

We Love Day Hikes And Yummy Food

Geary and I decided that we would enjoy the fabulous warm weather by taking the pup for a hike. We went just up the road to High Falls so that we could see the beautiful scenery. We had a blast and just in case your curious Luke did too.  I thought I would share a few photos from our quick trip up to High Falls. 

I am telling you he is the cutest dog

Hey there good lookin

Luke decided he was hot so he would just go for a little swim

Gorgeous!!!

No trip is complete without a couples photo

After all that walking G and I worked up quite the appetite. So we decided to go for the full experience of High Falls and eat at their local catfish house. Now many of you may not know this but I am a catfish connoisseur. I must give the credit for this to my grandparents who took me to eat catfish almost every other friday night when I was just a little one. I say all of this to say that Falls View Restaurant rocks when it comes to catfish. I knew it was going to be good when before bringing out the catfish and hushpuppies they brought us cole slaw, pickles, and onions. If you know anything about catfish then you know these three things are a must whether you like them or not .These three items just set the tone and let you know this restaurant is serious about their catfish.  I also was quite amazed by their homemade coleslaw. It pretty much rocked considering I normally hate coleslaw. 

Being Intentional

I have currently been reading a book by Heidi Baker called Compelled By Love. This was one of my lovely stocking stuffers (boy do I love stockings).
 G got this for me because...
1. Its about a missionary in Mozambique Africa and if you really know me then you know that I L-O-V-E Mozambique  and 2. These missionaries go into the streets of Africa and take in all the children who were left to die, who were selling their bodies just to eat, who were  unwanted and casted out by society. They brought these children into there home and shared the love of Christ with them. ( This is also a passion of mine taking in the unwanted and showing them the love of Christ).. Sooo Geary thought this is perfect!!!

Well I am loving the book and not just because of those two reasons but also because its challenging my love walk. The stories in combination with the Word are so powerful!! The stories that are shared  demonstrate the love and grace of Jesus my Savior. These children now walk in the love of Christ because two people were willing to fulfill the calling that God had on there life regardless of how dangerous and difficult it seemed. Quite often I get so caught up in the routine of my life that I forget to be intentional in sharing the love of Christ with others through my words and my actions. This book has challenged/reminded me to be intentional.

Also these children who were once angry, and thought of as being beyond help are now going out and sharing the love of Christ with others. Their broken hearts were healed by the love of God.  I mean these kids don't just play church but they live it day in and day out. They pray for the sick and see them recover, they pray for food and see food that was only enough to serve 50 serve 500. You see this is the God that I serve the God of miracles signs and wonders. I love Him and through this book I have been challenged to go deeper in my relationship with Christ and to quit playing Church.
Love the book!!!!

 In light of this I thought I would share just a few photos from my trip to Mozambique

Playing kickball with the kiddos in a rural village in Mozambique (see the one leaning against the church... he was soo sweet and I fell in love with him)

Now we are playing catch

Posing for a quick pic while we drive to the next village

The amazing team!!! They rocked!! Apparently we were a little confused about whether this was a silly photo or a serious one.  Oh wait this it the team minus two other guys 

We had a several mile hike to a rural village where we were going to share the gospel so I entertained myself and others by trying to balance a water bottle on my head. I was inspired by the women who carried baskets and all sorts of things on their head. I decided to start small.

I am eating a papaya that I whacked down from a tree with a stick. I had help from the cute little kids in the village.

They were amazed by the camera. These sweet little things had never seen a camera before.